Catching up on this thread I am struck by comments on lack of support in this country. The fact that so many women don't know their milk takes a few days to come in etc is horrifying and there's the overall societal issues. But...
... I think the main lack of support is more practical. In other countries, a woman's mother or sister or friend or whoever would step in to help, Ali false her dp. I remember a Dutch friend telling me a nurse was standard in your home for a while (possibly in past, not sure of Dutch system now). But in this country, so many people live away from family. Or they want to create their own little "bubble" (had never heard of that until MN But have now met such people in real life too).
I hd breast surgery so my chances of bf were always slim. But, my mother was here and helped a lot (as did dh), and I had other help too in the form of friend's who came by and helped or fed us or just sent lots of messages because apparently my borderline PND was more noticeable than I thought. The result is that you I stuck it out for 4 weeks until eventually the dr told me to stop because ds wasn't getting enough.
When did came along, I had more milk (but not enough) and bf was a LOT easier as she latched easier and also the extra milk was sufficient for a bit longer. So I should have managed at least the same 4 weeks as with ds. And yet, I stopped much sooner. I attribute that to less practical support. My mum couldn't be here. As it was a second baby there were fewer offers of cooked meals etc. And of course, we had ds so he needed care too and we didn't have any help there either.
We are so outraged here when A woman says she will be getting a night nanny. We discourage older generations from helping. But really, the thing about bf in those early days is you really need time and support. You need to be comfortable on that couch for endless hours which means someone else has to make you tea and meals. You need to get whatever sleep you can so when you aren't feeding, someone else needs to be holding the baby or changing the baby or whatever. That's what my mum did for me with ds and allowed me to feed him for 4 weeks against all the odds.